13 October 2021 – SAFA President, Dr Danny Jordaan has congratulated Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos and his team for bringing renewed hope to the country. Dr Jordaan also praised the spectators and all those who attended Tuesday’s match between Bafana Bafana and Ethiopia at FNB Stadium for providing an electric atmosphere and creating a piece of history.

South Africa beat the East Africans 3-1 and 1-0 in back-to-back matches inside three days – on Saturday and Tuesday – to reclaim top spot of Group G with 10 points from 4 matches, one ahead of the Black Stars who are on 9 points.

“On behalf of everyone, I would like to congratulate coach Hugo Broos for bringing back the excitement and renewed hope in our senior men’s national team. While the job is not yet complete, garnering 10 points from 4 games is worth praising especially with this relatively young team.

‘’We got the 6 points we needed from Ethiopia and now the next two games against Zimbabwe and Ghana will be quite interesting. Well done to the coach Broos, the entire team and technical staff,’’ said Dr Jordaan who also praised the spectators who included a strong government contingent for creating some piece of history.

This was the first match in two years that spectators were allowed back into the stadium following the outbreak of Coronavirus and Dr Jordaan said the process of welcoming fans back was a resounding success.

‘’The spectators provided that missing link within the stadium and I would like to thank their discipline and the vibrancy they created once the match had started. We are going to send a proposal to the government to request that we increase the percentage of the attendance for the home game against Zimbabwe next month,’’ he said.

Among the government delegation who attended the match were Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, his Health counterpart as well as Justice Minister and several top government officials. Also in attendance was SAFA Ethics Committee chair, Justice Sisi Khampepe.

‘’We passed the pilot project with flying colours and we hope to improve the numbers going forward. As we initially projected, we want South Africans to get vaccinated so that we return to our daily lives. 

‘’We want the medium business and informal sector that derives income from football to return and be able to benefit financially,’’ added Dr Jordaan.